Silence
by CastielAndTheBlueBox
Summary: The silence was unbearable, the distance between them not much, but the emotional distance in that moment was one he couldn't cross. He wanted so badly to tell her how he felt, but he couldn't. She wouldn't want him to. Not if they were going to die. MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH.


Leo sat in the corner of the box, trying not to let his face betray his pain. He'd taken the brunt of the force, made sure Jemma was alright, and thought it hurt like hell he didn't regret it. Jemma was at the other side, her eyes downcast. He wasn't sure how far down they were, but the box was able to resist atmospheric pressure, he figured that it would be the lack of oxygen that would kill them in the end.

"Jemma..." he began, and her eyes flickered up, but the pain and _emptiness_ in them caused him to shut his mouth again.

"What is it?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"Never mind."

The silence was unbearable, the distance between them not much, but the emotional distance in that moment was one he couldn't cross. He wanted so badly to tell her how he felt, but he couldn't. She wouldn't want him to. Not if they were going to die.

He looked down at his hands, trying to think of other solutions for this. Ward couldn't've just let them drop out of a plane, could he? He cared about them, he did, he'd even said he did...

_Weakness_.

Leo sighed and glanced back up at Jemma, found himself crawling along to sit next to her, his arm going to curl around his shoulder. And then she had her head on his chest and was full-out sobbing, her shoulders shaking as she clutched him.

This death was not peaceful, and the silence around them cut only by her soft gasps was deafening.

"Jemma, c'mon, it's alright, we're alright." he lied, and she looked up at him, shaking her head.

"You're almost as bad at lying as I am, Fitz."

He sighed, and looked down, keeping himself from looking at her tearstained face, the rage inside him, the rage at _Ward_ almost all-consuming.

That bastard, the one who'd made him realize what he felt for the woman sitting beside him had ejected them from a plane. Into the middle of the sea. He supposed, in a way, that had been part of his denial in the beginning (the denial he wanted to fall back into). How could someone who helped him realize something so pure and perfect be as evil as Skye had said? He'd hoped against hope that she'd been wrong. But she hadn't. He'd just believed too strongly in a man who was secretly psychotic and had been using them this whole time.

"Jem..." he mumbled again, and she looked up at him sharply this time.

"What is it, Fitz? You've been holding something in the whole time we've been down here. You've been acting strangely for _weeks!"_

He sighed. Make or break time. He had to tell her or she'd be pissed at him when they died.

"I love you." he choked out.

She blinked once. Twice. He felt his heart swelling in his chest, the tears jumping to his eyes, lungs burning at the difficulty he had coming by air.

_Rejection, rejection, rejection..._

Breath was something that was becoming hard to come by, and he just stared at her, starting to feel dizzy. And then he heard the knocks.

Distracted by it for the time being, he saw May in the window, docked in diving gear.

"You go out first." he instructed Jemma, and she looked at him.

"Fitz, I..." she began, and he shook his head.

"Go."

The door was opened, and Jemma climbed out, towards May, who helped her out and up. He tried to hold his breath, but his lungs screamed for air, he wasn't sure if he'd manage to keep it for as long as it took for the older agent to come back. He wondered briefly why they hadn't sent someone else down, but then he remembered they had a limited supply of money and most of the heavy gear was on the Bus.

Eventually, on instinct, he tried to breathe, and ended up with lungfuls of water. The darkness took over.

* * *

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Jemma listened to the rhythmic beating of his heart, taking comfort in the sound. When she heard the door open, she turned, meeting Coulson's eyes, the question in her own clear.

He shook his head.

"I'm sorry."

She closed her eyes for a moment, shoulders shaking, before she nodded. "Alright. Can I have a moment, please?" she asked, and got a nod in return.

Sighing, she got to her feet, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his temple, just as the comforting sound that had been there the whole time stopped.

"I love you too, Fitz."


End file.
